Compactor wheel configuration

ABSTRACT

A compactor vehicle is provided having a plurality of wheels in the form of drums having chopper blades attached thereto in an offset chevron pattern. The offset chevron pattern faces forwardly on the front wheels and rearwardly on the rear wheels thereby providing improved chopping and flattening action when the vehicle is used to prepare land for replanting in forest management or to compact layers or debris and soil when used in sanitary landfill operations. Extension wheels having chopper blades are additionally provided whereby the vehicle may operate satisfactorily under soft soil conditions.

United States Patent Moser et al.

Filed:

COMPACTOR WHEEL CONFIGURATION Inventors: Raymond L. Mos er, Tremont;Dorrance Oldenburg, Peoria; Donald E. Sunderlin, Washington, all of I11.

Assignee: Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, I11.

I March 16, 1970 Appl. N0.: 19,871

US. Cl. ..94/50, 172/52, 301/43 Int. Cl ......'...E0lc 19/26 Field ofSearch ..172/116, 52; 301/41, 47, 52; 180/20 References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1/1913 Hagan ..172'/s2x 12/1914 Cowart....; ..172/s2xAug. 29, 1972 2,318,550 5/1943 Wittman ..301/43 X 3,403,745 10/ 1 968Commons l 80/ 20 X 3,435,873 4/1969 Weier ..30 l/43 X PrimaryExaminer-Jacob L. Nackenoff Att0rneyFryer-, Tjensvold, Feix, Phillipsand Lempio [57] ABSTRACT A compactor vehicle is provided having aplurality of wheels in the form of drums having chopper blades attachedthereto'in an offset chevron pattern. The offset chevron pattern facesforwardly on the front wheels and rearwardly on the rear wheels therebyproviding improved chopping and flattening action when the vehicle isused to prepare land for replanting in forest management or to compactlayers or debris and soil when used in sanitary landfill operations.Extension wheels having chopper blades are additionally provided wherebythe vehicle may operate satisfactorily under soft soil conditions.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patefited Aug. 29, 1972 3,687,023

2 Shees-Sheet 1 INVENTORS RAYMOND L. MOSER DORRANCE OLDENBURG DONALD E.SUNDERLIN WW? w,

Patented Aug. 29,1972 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 RG IN RAYMOND L. MOSE DORRANCEOLDENB I DONALD E. SUNDER wuv/ 1 L14 9 3 7 1 I ATTORNEYS COMPACTOR WHEELCONFIGURATION BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION wardly on the rearwheels thereby providing a reverse 1 pattern between front and rearwhich improves the chopping or flattening action of the invention overdevice currently known.

Compactor vehicles are frequently used in the pulpwood industry whereina method of forest management has been developed that involvesharvesting all trees on a given tract and then preparing the land forreplanting. The process of preparing for replanting is called sitepreparation.

Currently, site preparation consists of towing drumtype choppers withtrack-type tractors equipped with bulldozers over the site to beprepared. The bulldozers function to both knock down trees and brush aswell as to cut them into small pieces by means of the towed, drum-typechoppers. The choppers must operate to cut the felled trees into piecessmall enough such that they will not interfere with the plantingmachines that follow. The chopper blades further function to penetrateand loosen the soil and crush tree roots such that the new seedlings areable to get a good start. With the present bulldozer-chopper system,more than one pass is usually necessary to achieve satisfactory sitepreparation. Thus, the number of acres that may be prepared in a giventime period is unduly limited.

Compactor vehicles are also frequently used in sanitary landfilloperations wherein pits or low areas are alternately filled in withlayers of debris and soil. Each layer must be compacted to a maximumdensity in order to conserve valuable land space. The problemencountered to date has been to completely cut up, crush and compact thedebris to obtain the desired maximum density. Currently used in sanitarylandfill operations are sheeps foot rollers which are either towedbehind a bulldozer or are on an external part of a self-propelledvehicle. These sheeps foot rollers are not a completely satisfactorysolution to the sanitary landfill problem since they have a tendency toclog. While other types of vehicle wheels for compacting in sanitarylandfill operations have been suggested, e.g., that shown in US. Pat.No. 3,463,063, such designs do not achieve the depth of soil penetrationnecessary for both the sanitary landfill and forestry site preparationoperatrons.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide acompactor vehicle having a plurality of wheels with a plurality ofchopper blades mounted thereon which may be used for both forestry sitepreparation and sanitary landfill operations.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a compactor vehiclehaving a plurality of ground-engaging wheels with a plurality of chopperblades mounted thereon in an offset chevron pattern wherein the patternof the front wheels is the reverse of the pattern of the rear wheels tofacilitate the crushing of landfill materials, the chopping of brush andSmall trees, and the loosening of soil.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a compactor vehiclehaving a plurality of compaction wheels which may be effectivelyextended by the addition of wheel extensions to facilitate compactorvehicle use under soft soil conditions.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a compaction wheelhaving a plurality of chopper blades arranged in a chevron patternaround the periphery 0 thereof, said pattern providing self-cleaningability due to the fact that such pattern eliminates corner pocketswhere debris has a tendency to collect.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a compaction wheelhaving a plurality of chopper blades arranged around the peripherythereof, said blade being of sufficient length to produce penetrationsufficient to chop'tree roots and loosen soil when used in forestry sitepreparation, as well as to facilitate crushing of debris in sanitarylandfill operations.

, It is a further object of this invention to provide a compaction wheelhaving a plurality of chopper blades arranged around the peripherythereof in an offset chevron pattern at an angle and spacing of theblades such that at any given time the vehicle weight acts substantiallyat a point on a chevron half to produce high unit loading for compactionpurposes.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a compactionwheel having a plurality of chopper blades arranged around the peripherythereof, said chopper blades being arranged in an offset chevronpattern, the angle and spacing thereof being such that even weighttransfer from one blade to the next is produced and thus to facilitatesmooth vehicle ride.

Further and more specific objects and advantages of the presentinvention and the manner in which it is carried into practice are madeapparent in the following specification wherein the invention isdescribed in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thevehicle of this invention illustrating a plurality of compaction wheelsand wheel extensions mounted'thereon;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a single compaction wheel of this inventionillustrating the orientation of chopper H blades mounted around theperiphery thereof;

FIG. 3 is a partial peripheral view of the compaction wheel of FIG. 2illustrating the offset chevron pattern of the chopper blades as well asthe means used in mounting said blades.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION of rear wheels 12, 14 and a pair of front wheels,one of which is shown at 16. Optionally mounted on each of the wheels isan extension wheel, two of which are shown at 19 and 21. Mounted on eachof the wheels are 'chopper blades mounted around the periphery thereofand are oriented such that the direction of the blades on a frontextension, e.g., blades 24 on wheel 19, are the reverse of the directionof orientation of the blades on a rear extension, e.g., blades 26 onwheel extension 21. The extensions are of a diameter equal to that ofthe wheels and are removably attached to the wheels by conventionalmeans (not shown).

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown generally a side elevation viewof a single compaction wheel 28. The compaction wheel defines a hollowcylinderor drum 30 having end walls in the form of a pair of webmembers, one of which is shown at 32 fixed to each end thereof. Anattachment ring 34 is further provided around a hole in the web for thepurpose of facilitating attachment to a vehicle axle by conventionalattachment means (not shown).

Fixedly mounted around the outer periphery of the cylinder, are aplurality of identical chopper blades oriented in an offset chevronpattern. By offset chevron pattern is meant the pattern that is achievedby nesting a plurality of V-shapes and eliminating alternate arms ofsucceeding V-shapes and then separating or offsetting the V-shapes. Eachchopper blade may thus be defined as a V-half or chevron half.

An individual chopper blade or V-half comprises essentially arectangularly shaped metal plate having dimensions of height, length andthickness. Each chopper blade, for example, chopper blade 36, is fixedlymounted to the outer periphey of the cylinder at an angular orientationto the cylinder axis and in a generally radially outwardly extendingdirection from said axis.-A small right triangularly shaped inner gusset38 is fixedly attached to the inner end of said chopper blade forpurposes of rigidity. Similarly, a trapezoid shaped outer gusset 40 isfixedly attached to the opposite end of said blade 36 and the cylinderend. Blade 36 further has a sharpened edge 42 along its free lengthedge, to facilitate cutting and chopping.

Referring now to FIG. 3 there is shown a peripheral view taken indirection 33 on FIG. 2. A typical, radially outwardly extending chopperblade 36 is shown to be offset at an angle alpha to the cylinder axis.The chopper blade extends from a cylinder edge where it is in contactwith outer gusset 40 to a point about halfway along the cylinder length,where it contacts inner gusset 38. Outer gusset 40 is oriented flushwith the cylinder edge while inner gusset 38 is conveniently oriented toparallel the adjacent chevron half.

Alternate or succeeding chopper blades are spaced a circumferentialdistance A from each other around the periphey of the cylinder, saiddistance being equal to the circumferential distance around the cylinderdivided by the number of chopper blades. The spacing A should be suchthat there is a smooth transfer of loading from one ground contactingchopper blade to the next succeeding blade when the Wheel is in motion.

Theoretically perfect load transfer would occur from blade to blade whenan angle of the blades is such in relation to a circumferentialdistancev that the peripheral distance B occupied by a given blade isequal to the. distance A. In practice, distance B may be somewhat lessthan or different from distance A due to a number of factors includingthe fact that the blades will sink into the supporting ground and thusvary from the theoretically perfect model which assumes a flat, rigidsupporting surface.

The particular offset chevron pattern thus described produces both aneven transfer of weight from one blade to the nextand therefore asatisfactory ride for the vehicle as well as producing a high unitloading of the chopper blades. Such high unit loading-is desirable tomaximize crushing and cutting ability of the blades.

An explanation of what is meant by high unit loading is as follows. As agiven blade 46 contacts the ground, the contact will begin at point 48which is the point on the blade foremost in the direction of travel. Asthe wheel rotates the weight on the wheel will move along the blade inthe direction C until it reaches point 50 on blade 46. At this point theweight will be transferred to point 52 on blade 54. The weight willsimilarly be transferred along blade 54 in direction D until point 56 isachieved. In similar manner, weight transfer will occur on succeedingchevron halves as the wheel rotates. Thus, the weight is picked up byeach succeeding blade creating high unit pressure since the weight atany one time acts substantially on a point of the blade which is incontact with the ground. Of course, if the direction of wheel rotationis reversed the weight loading along the blade edges will similarly bereversed. That is to say directions C and D would be reversed from thatshown in FIG. 3.

It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrativeof a preferred embodiment of the invention and that the scope of theinvention is not to be limited thereto, but is to be determined by thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A self-propelled compactor vehicle comprising a frame with at leastone front ground-engaging wheel and at least on rear ground-engagingwheel mounted for rotation on said vehicle adjacent the front and rearends thereof, respectively, said wheels comprising metal cylindricalmembers each defining an axis of rotation and a diameter and havingmounted around the periphery thereof a plurality of metal chopperblades, said blades being oriented at an angle to said I cylinder axisand extending only part way across said cylinders from points adjacent acylinder end, successive blades being oriented alternately from oppositecylinder ends to define chevron halves in an offset chevron pattern,each of said chopper blades being in the form of a rectangularly shapedmetal plate having dimensions of height, length, and thickness, saidheight being greater than said thickness, each of said chopper bladesbeing secured to its supporting wheel periphery along a length edge sothat said chopper blade extends radially outwardly from said wheel, theheight dimension of each radially extending chopper blade beingsubstantial with respect to the wheel diameter and having meansproducing a cutting edge on a free length edge so as to insurepenetration sufficient to chop tree roots, loosen soil, and crushdebris, succeeding chopper blades being circumferentially spaced fromeach other about the supporting wheel periphery a circumferentialdistance or spacing A which is equal to the circumferential distancearound the cylinder divided by the number of chopper blades, the angularorientation of said chopper blades defining a distance B which is thecircumferential distance around the cylinder occupied by a given blade,and wherein distance B is selected to be no greater than distance Awhereby a portion of at least one chevron half of each wheel is inposition to contact the ground during rotation and thereby insuresmoothness of operation, said wheel further including an inner gussetassociated with each chopper blade fixedly attaching the inner end ofsaid chopper blade to the peripheral cylinder surface intermediate theends of the cylinder, and further including an outer gusset associatedwith each chopper blade fixedly attaching the outer end of said chopperblade to the cylinder end.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein said outer gusset is trapezoidal inshape.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein said inner gusset is a plate memberand is oriented in spaced, parallel relation with both the nextpreceeding and next succeeding chopper blades.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 wherein each inner gusset is triangular inshape.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein distance B is selected to be less thandistance A.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the cylindrical members and chopperblades are of metal material.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. I7,623 Dated August 29,- 1972 Inventor) RAYMOND L. MOSER, ET. AL.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent andthat said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the Abstract, line 8, "or", second occurrence,

- should read of Column 4 line 44, claim 1, "on" should read one Signedand sealed thisZ Znd day of January 197 4.

( E Attest:

EDWARD M.FLET-CHER,JR. I RENE D. TEGTMEYER Attesting Officer ActingCommissioner of Patents

1. A self-propelled compactor vehicle comprising a frame with at leastone front ground-engaging wheel and at least on rear ground-engagingwheel mounted for rotation on said vehicle adjacent the front and rearends thereof, respectively, said wheels comprising metal cylindricalmembers each defining an axis of rotation and a diameter and havingmounted around the periphery thereof a plurality of metal chopperblades, said blades being oriented at an angle to said cylinder axis andextending only part way across said cylinders from points adjacent acylinder end, successive blades being oriented alternately from oppositecylinder ends to define chevron halves in an offset chevron pattern,each of said chopper blades being in the form of a rectangularly shapedmetal plate having dimensions of height, length, and thickness, saidheight being greater than said thickness, each of said chopper bladesbeing secured to its supporting wheel periphery along a length edge sothat said chopper blade extends radially outwardly from said wheel, theheight dimension of each radially extending chopper blade beingsubstantial with respect to the wheel diameter and having meansproducing a cutting edge on a free length edge so as to insurepenetration sufficient to chop tree roots, loosen soil, and crushdebris, succeeding chopper blades being circumferentially spaced fromeach other about the supporting wheel periphery a circumferentialdistance or spacing A which is equal to the circumferential distancearound the cylinder divided by the number of chopper blades, the angularorientation of said chopper blades defining a distance B which is thecircumferential distance around the cylinder occupied by a given blade,and wherein distance B is selected to be no greater than distance Awhereby a portion of at least one chevron half of each wheel is inposition to contact the ground during rotation and thereby insuresmoothness of operation, said wheel further including an inner gussetassociated with each chopper blade fixedly attaching the inner end ofsaid chopper blade to the peripheral cylinder surface intermediate theends of the cylinder, and further including an outer gusset associatedwith each chopper blade fixedly attaching the outer end of said chopperblade to the cylinder end.
 2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein said outergusset is trapezoidal in shape.
 3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein saidinner gusset is a plate member and is oriented in spaced, parallelrelation with both the next preceeding and next succeeding chopperblades.
 4. The vehicle of claim 3 wherein each inner gusset istriangular in shape.
 5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein distance B isselected to be less than distance A.
 6. The vehicle of claim 1 whEreinthe cylindrical members and chopper blades are of metal material.